This article is the first scholarly examination of the function of systemic integration in the climate change context. The article assesses the role that the notion of ‘systemic integration’ is playing in making climate change justiciable internationally, and traces the path along which it brought the principle to become a key notion in climate litigation. It explores the fundamental question of how pre-existing legal norms (to the Paris Agreement) have been used to address questions about climate change. Systemic integration is a principle of treaty interpretation enshrined in Article 31(3)(c) of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, which requires consideration of other rules of international law in the course of interpreting a treaty. Often operating ‘as an unarticulated major premise in the construction of treaties’, its function is nevertheless ‘analogous to that of a master-key in a large building’ (McLachlan 2005). The underlying premise is that international law is, in essence, a system. This article looks into how the principle is currently operating in practice in climate litigation and, in doing so, it draws some reflections on the wider significance of the principle for international law more generally. The article explores the systemic integration arguments considered in the Torres Strait Islanders case, the first international case on climate change to be adjudicated on its merits, which set in motion a wave of international climate cases, and considers the function of systemic integration in the pending advisory opinions before international courts.
{"title":"The master key to international law: systemic integration in climate change cases","authors":"Monica Feria-Tinta","doi":"10.4337/cilj.2024.0001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4337/cilj.2024.0001","url":null,"abstract":"This article is the first scholarly examination of the function of systemic integration in the climate change context. The article assesses the role that the notion of ‘systemic integration’ is playing in making climate change justiciable internationally, and traces the path along which it brought the principle to become a key notion in climate litigation. It explores the fundamental question of how pre-existing legal norms (to the Paris Agreement) have been used to address questions about climate change. Systemic integration is a principle of treaty interpretation enshrined in Article 31(3)(c) of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, which requires consideration of other rules of international law in the course of interpreting a treaty. Often operating ‘as an unarticulated major premise in the construction of treaties’, its function is nevertheless ‘analogous to that of a master-key in a large building’ (McLachlan 2005). The underlying premise is that international law is, in essence, a system. This article looks into how the principle is currently operating in practice in climate litigation and, in doing so, it draws some reflections on the wider significance of the principle for international law more generally. The article explores the systemic integration arguments considered in the Torres Strait Islanders case, the first international case on climate change to be adjudicated on its merits, which set in motion a wave of international climate cases, and considers the function of systemic integration in the pending advisory opinions before international courts.","PeriodicalId":42994,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge International Law Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2024-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141145500","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
After 56 years of internal armed conflict, Colombia undertook a transitional justice process and established the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (SJP or JEP in Spanish) as the court in charge of resolving cases related to the conflict. In 2018, the JEP opened a case to investigate gross violations committed against the Nasa Indigenous people and their ancestral territory during armed conflict. In the proceedings before the JEP, Nasa authorities and lawyers, most of whom are fluent in Spanish, have been purposely using linguistic constructions in Nasa Yuwe, their native language. This article explores the purpose behind this linguistic practice and its potential implication for the JEP and international law. Through critical discourse analysis and socio-linguistic analysis of legal documents, the article outlines different strategic uses of language by an ethnic minority, such as the Nasa, to strengthen and broaden their rights.
在经历了 56 年的国内武装冲突后，哥伦比亚开展了过渡时期司法进程，并设立了和平特别司法管辖区（西班牙文为 SJP 或 JEP），作为负责解决冲突相关案件的法院。2018 年，和平特别法庭立案调查武装冲突期间严重侵犯 Nasa 土著人及其祖传领地的行为。在 JEP 的诉讼程序中，Nasa 当局和律师（其中大多数人都能说流利的西班牙语）一直在有意使用 Nasa Yuwe（他们的母语）的语言结构。本文探讨了这种语言实践背后的目的及其对 JEP 和国际法的潜在影响。通过对法律文件的批判性话语分析和社会语言分析，文章概述了少数民族（如纳萨族）为加强和扩大自身权利而对语言的不同策略性使用。
{"title":"In other words: the strategic use of Nasa Indigenous language in legal settings","authors":"Nina Bries Silva, Esteban Díaz Montenegro","doi":"10.4337/cilj.2023.02.07","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4337/cilj.2023.02.07","url":null,"abstract":"After 56 years of internal armed conflict, Colombia undertook a transitional justice process and established the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (SJP or JEP in Spanish) as the court in charge of resolving cases related to the conflict. In 2018, the JEP opened a case to investigate gross violations committed against the Nasa Indigenous people and their ancestral territory during armed conflict. In the proceedings before the JEP, Nasa authorities and lawyers, most of whom are fluent in Spanish, have been purposely using linguistic constructions in Nasa Yuwe, their native language. This article explores the purpose behind this linguistic practice and its potential implication for the JEP and international law. Through critical discourse analysis and socio-linguistic analysis of legal documents, the article outlines different strategic uses of language by an ethnic minority, such as the Nasa, to strengthen and broaden their rights.","PeriodicalId":42994,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge International Law Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-12-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139150925","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
International lawyers refer to concepts such as ‘State immunity’, ‘the high seas’, ‘jus cogens’ and many others as genre-specific – as ‘concepts of international law’. This practice presupposes a definition that can help to distinguish concepts of international law from other concepts used by participants in international legal discourse. This article draws attention to the great complexity of this issue. It starts from the assumption that all genre-specific concepts have an importance for the structuring and development of the branch of activity to which they are said to belong. It arrives at the conclusion that there is in fact not just one way of defining a concept of international law, but several. These definitions are inextricably tied to different conceptions of law. The article argues that it is important that international lawyers openly acknowledge this relationship between different theories of law and different conceptions of an international legal concept. Doing so will enhance the rationality of legal communication and the productivity of international legal discourse.
{"title":"The concept of an international legal concept","authors":"Ulf Linderfalk","doi":"10.4337/cilj.2023.02.02","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4337/cilj.2023.02.02","url":null,"abstract":"International lawyers refer to concepts such as ‘State immunity’, ‘the high seas’, ‘jus cogens’ and many others as genre-specific – as ‘concepts of international law’. This practice presupposes a definition that can help to distinguish concepts of international law from other concepts used by participants in international legal discourse. This article draws attention to the great complexity of this issue. It starts from the assumption that all genre-specific concepts have an importance for the structuring and development of the branch of activity to which they are said to belong. It arrives at the conclusion that there is in fact not just one way of defining a concept of international law, but several. These definitions are inextricably tied to different conceptions of law. The article argues that it is important that international lawyers openly acknowledge this relationship between different theories of law and different conceptions of an international legal concept. Doing so will enhance the rationality of legal communication and the productivity of international legal discourse.","PeriodicalId":42994,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge International Law Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-12-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139152331","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Large language models (LLMs) are currently disrupting law. Yet their precise impact on international law, especially treaty interpretation, remains underexplored. Treaty interpretation can be analogised to a game in which ‘players’ strategically deploy ‘cards’, usually principles of treaty interpretation, to persuade an ‘audience’ that their interpretation is correct. Leveraging this analogy, this paper offers a limited case study of how OpenAI’s ChatGPT, a prominent LLM-based chatbot, navigates the treaty interpretation game. In line with the existing research on ChatGPT’s legal abilities, the author concludes that ChatGPT competently plays the treaty interpretation game. This conclusion leads to a broader discussion of how LLM usage may impact international law’s development. The argument advanced is that, while LLMs have the potential to enhance efficiency and accessibility, biased training data and interpretative standardisation could reinforce international law’s dominant narratives. As such, this paper concludes with a cautionary note: the potential gains derived from LLMs risk being offset by disciplinary stagnation.
{"title":"Large language models and the treaty interpretation game","authors":"Jack Wright Nelson","doi":"10.4337/cilj.2023.02.08","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4337/cilj.2023.02.08","url":null,"abstract":"Large language models (LLMs) are currently disrupting law. Yet their precise impact on international law, especially treaty interpretation, remains underexplored. Treaty interpretation can be analogised to a game in which ‘players’ strategically deploy ‘cards’, usually principles of treaty interpretation, to persuade an ‘audience’ that their interpretation is correct. Leveraging this analogy, this paper offers a limited case study of how OpenAI’s ChatGPT, a prominent LLM-based chatbot, navigates the treaty interpretation game. In line with the existing research on ChatGPT’s legal abilities, the author concludes that ChatGPT competently plays the treaty interpretation game. This conclusion leads to a broader discussion of how LLM usage may impact international law’s development. The argument advanced is that, while LLMs have the potential to enhance efficiency and accessibility, biased training data and interpretative standardisation could reinforce international law’s dominant narratives. As such, this paper concludes with a cautionary note: the potential gains derived from LLMs risk being offset by disciplinary stagnation.","PeriodicalId":42994,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge International Law Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-12-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139148118","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Translators and interpreters allow international law and its institutions to operate in a multilingual world. However, the legal literature analysing how international law and institutions understand the role of translators, and the significance of translators’ work to the practice of international law, is still developing. This article contributes to this emerging body of work by analysing the discourse of international law on translation, interpretation and multilingualism. It identifies four key assumptions about translation and its role in the multilingual international legal order which repeatedly appear in the discourse of international law. Drawing on insights from other disciplines, including socio-linguistics and translation studies, it demonstrates ways in which these assumptions may be flawed, and explores the significance of this for the operation of international law. Ultimately, it argues that these ‘four myths’ skew the operation of international law in ways that empower some at the expense of others and call into question whether international law is truly ‘international’.
{"title":"Multilingualism, translation and international law: four myths","authors":"Jacqueline Mowbray","doi":"10.4337/cilj.2023.02.03","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4337/cilj.2023.02.03","url":null,"abstract":"Translators and interpreters allow international law and its institutions to operate in a multilingual world. However, the legal literature analysing how international law and institutions understand the role of translators, and the significance of translators’ work to the practice of international law, is still developing. This article contributes to this emerging body of work by analysing the discourse of international law on translation, interpretation and multilingualism. It identifies four key assumptions about translation and its role in the multilingual international legal order which repeatedly appear in the discourse of international law. Drawing on insights from other disciplines, including socio-linguistics and translation studies, it demonstrates ways in which these assumptions may be flawed, and explores the significance of this for the operation of international law. Ultimately, it argues that these ‘four myths’ skew the operation of international law in ways that empower some at the expense of others and call into question whether international law is truly ‘international’.","PeriodicalId":42994,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge International Law Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-12-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139148942","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This is a case note on Hamzy v Commissioner of Corrective Services NSW, a 2022 decision in which the Court of Appeal of the Australian state of New South Wales interpreted the right to freedom of expression, which is enshrined in international human rights law. The decision shows the difficulty of protecting choice of a language as part of freedom of expression both where the semantic import of that choice is undervalued when assessing the reasonableness of a State imposing a language choice and where the lawful exception for a State to restrict the freedom by mandating a language for its public interactions is unduly expanded. The case also reveals the vulnerability of a language speaker group to racialised linguistic discrimination without straightforward recourse.
这是一份关于哈姆齐（Hamzy）诉新南威尔士州矫正服务专员（Commissioner of Corrective Services NSW）案的案例说明，澳大利亚新南威尔士州上诉法院在 2022 年的一项判决中对国际人权法中规定的表达自由权进行了解释。该判决显示了将语言选择作为表达自由的一部分加以保护的难度，一方面，在评估国家强制要求选择语言的合理性时，语言选择的语义意义被低估，另一方面，国家通过强制要求公共交往使用一种语言来限制表达自由的合法例外被不适当地扩大。该案还揭示了讲某种语言的群体容易受到种族化的语言歧视，而又无法直接求助。
{"title":"Lawful limits on freedom of expression for private communications ‘in public life’","authors":"Alexandra Grey","doi":"10.4337/cilj.2023.02.09","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4337/cilj.2023.02.09","url":null,"abstract":"This is a case note on Hamzy v Commissioner of Corrective Services NSW, a 2022 decision in which the Court of Appeal of the Australian state of New South Wales interpreted the right to freedom of expression, which is enshrined in international human rights law. The decision shows the difficulty of protecting choice of a language as part of freedom of expression both where the semantic import of that choice is undervalued when assessing the reasonableness of a State imposing a language choice and where the lawful exception for a State to restrict the freedom by mandating a language for its public interactions is unduly expanded. The case also reveals the vulnerability of a language speaker group to racialised linguistic discrimination without straightforward recourse.","PeriodicalId":42994,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge International Law Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-12-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139151251","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Existing research on international human rights law has neglected the issues raised by the domestic translation of multilingual treaties and their implications for implementation. This article addresses that gap. It explores the challenges a central concept to an international multilingual treaty, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), presented to States Parties when interpreting and translating the CRPD’s novel central concept of disability (Article 1) and the implications this had for the implementation of the CRPD. The CRPD has been described as representing a ‘paradigm shift’ in thinking about disability in international human rights law. At the heart of this shift is a new understanding of the concept of disability. It moves away from a traditional conceptualisation situated in a medical discourse, towards a concept situated in a social contextual discourse, which views persons with disabilities as subjects with human rights equal to all persons. Little research has explored how the CRPD’s central concept translates beyond the anglophone world. This article employs a distinctive approach to legal translation as a cross-cultural transfer or interaction of discourses. It develops a detailed case study of Cyprus based on primary empirical work (semi-structured interviews and document analysis), then compares the challenges faced by Cyprus with the experiences of Greece and Bulgaria, and then considers these in relation to Iceland’s experiences. The article reveals linguistic and cultural challenges and shows their significance for the implementation of the CRPD. It highlights the risks of domestic misinterpretation and mistranslation and identifies three critical factors to reduce these risks for international multilingual treaties. The article contributes to our understanding of the significance of domestic translation of international multilingual treaties and the implications of this for treaty implementation and helps to open a new research agenda around this.
{"title":"Language in international treaties: linguistic and cultural challenges in translating and implementing international multilingual treaties","authors":"E. Kakoullis","doi":"10.4337/cilj.2023.02.05","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4337/cilj.2023.02.05","url":null,"abstract":"Existing research on international human rights law has neglected the issues raised by the domestic translation of multilingual treaties and their implications for implementation. This article addresses that gap. It explores the challenges a central concept to an international multilingual treaty, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), presented to States Parties when interpreting and translating the CRPD’s novel central concept of disability (Article 1) and the implications this had for the implementation of the CRPD. The CRPD has been described as representing a ‘paradigm shift’ in thinking about disability in international human rights law. At the heart of this shift is a new understanding of the concept of disability. It moves away from a traditional conceptualisation situated in a medical discourse, towards a concept situated in a social contextual discourse, which views persons with disabilities as subjects with human rights equal to all persons. Little research has explored how the CRPD’s central concept translates beyond the anglophone world. This article employs a distinctive approach to legal translation as a cross-cultural transfer or interaction of discourses. It develops a detailed case study of Cyprus based on primary empirical work (semi-structured interviews and document analysis), then compares the challenges faced by Cyprus with the experiences of Greece and Bulgaria, and then considers these in relation to Iceland’s experiences. The article reveals linguistic and cultural challenges and shows their significance for the implementation of the CRPD. It highlights the risks of domestic misinterpretation and mistranslation and identifies three critical factors to reduce these risks for international multilingual treaties. The article contributes to our understanding of the significance of domestic translation of international multilingual treaties and the implications of this for treaty implementation and helps to open a new research agenda around this.","PeriodicalId":42994,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge International Law Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-12-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139150231","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The aim of this article is to uncover the inherent risks embedded within the transplantation of legal concepts, specifically focusing on those arising from language usage. As will be demonstrated, these risks also play a substantial role in shaping the ultimate form of these concepts after transplantation. In pursuit of identifying these risks, the article not only draws on legal aspects but also integrates insights from legal linguistics and references cognitive linguistics. Instead of examining the reception of legal concepts from one national jurisdiction to another, this article concentrates on the reception of concepts from European Union law or international law within national jurisdictions, as well as the straightforward applications of legal concepts in private transactions with an international element.
{"title":"The transplantation of legal concepts by means of language: a private law perspective","authors":"Roman Uliasz","doi":"10.4337/cilj.2023.02.06","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4337/cilj.2023.02.06","url":null,"abstract":"The aim of this article is to uncover the inherent risks embedded within the transplantation of legal concepts, specifically focusing on those arising from language usage. As will be demonstrated, these risks also play a substantial role in shaping the ultimate form of these concepts after transplantation. In pursuit of identifying these risks, the article not only draws on legal aspects but also integrates insights from legal linguistics and references cognitive linguistics. Instead of examining the reception of legal concepts from one national jurisdiction to another, this article concentrates on the reception of concepts from European Union law or international law within national jurisdictions, as well as the straightforward applications of legal concepts in private transactions with an international element.","PeriodicalId":42994,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge International Law Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-12-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139149869","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The implementation of international law requires State capacity, including knowledge of treaties and institutions by domestic officials. The training of State officials is often delivered by an international organisation, agency or secretariat as part of the capacity-building programmes required by the treaty that each administers. Yet, of the increasingly urgent calls for international cooperation to address climate change, biodiversity crises, public health threats and plastic pollution, among other issues, not one can be addressed by a single treaty or international organisation. The practical, operational and theoretical challenges of coordination deserve more attention by international lawyers. This is especially important given the development of pandemic-era remote learning technologies and the proliferation of e-learning opportunities. Disparities in resources, and the categorisation of developing and developed countries, further complicates the production and dissemination of knowledge. This article focuses on capacity-building, technical assistance and training, and includes the author’s experience with collaborative training initiatives in ocean governance, to which United Nations agencies, the World Bank and academic partners contribute. The article describes the high stakes of integrative initiatives, the outreach by international organisations and the interaction between regimes. It seeks to account for collaborative capacity-building activities and the adaptive role of participants within the system of international law.
{"title":"Implementing international law: capacity-building, coordination and control","authors":"Margaret A. Young","doi":"10.4337/cilj.2023.01.01","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4337/cilj.2023.01.01","url":null,"abstract":"The implementation of international law requires State capacity, including knowledge of treaties and institutions by domestic officials. The training of State officials is often delivered by an international organisation, agency or secretariat as part of the capacity-building programmes required by the treaty that each administers. Yet, of the increasingly urgent calls for international cooperation to address climate change, biodiversity crises, public health threats and plastic pollution, among other issues, not one can be addressed by a single treaty or international organisation. The practical, operational and theoretical challenges of coordination deserve more attention by international lawyers. This is especially important given the development of pandemic-era remote learning technologies and the proliferation of e-learning opportunities. Disparities in resources, and the categorisation of developing and developed countries, further complicates the production and dissemination of knowledge. This article focuses on capacity-building, technical assistance and training, and includes the author’s experience with collaborative training initiatives in ocean governance, to which United Nations agencies, the World Bank and academic partners contribute. The article describes the high stakes of integrative initiatives, the outreach by international organisations and the interaction between regimes. It seeks to account for collaborative capacity-building activities and the adaptive role of participants within the system of international law.","PeriodicalId":42994,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge International Law Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49070739","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Recent threats to the durability of the non-refoulement principle brought on by COVID-19 demonstrate how the pandemic has been much more than a health crisis. Public health emergency measures issued in response to the global outbreak, such as port closures, the suspension of search-and-rescue operations and privatised pushbacks at maritime borders, have exposed fundamental weaknesses in the international protection regime. With Italy and Malta in profile, this article examines how the elevation of COVID-19 to a national security threat has occasioned a shift in the migration and security discourse, challenging the very existence of the non-refoulement principle’s non-derogable character. In support of conceiving the principle as absolute, the article reviews how the denial of protections under non-refoulement has contributed to the scale and gravity of the present health crisis, forcing mixed migrant arrivals to either stay in overcrowded camps or in protracted situations of distress at sea. The article thereby concludes that the framing of migration as a health security issue appears to only breed greater insecurity.
{"title":"To derogate or not to derogate: health securitisation challenges to the principle of non-refoulement in the Central Mediterranean","authors":"D. Flanagan","doi":"10.4337/cilj.2023.01.04","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4337/cilj.2023.01.04","url":null,"abstract":"Recent threats to the durability of the non-refoulement principle brought on by COVID-19 demonstrate how the pandemic has been much more than a health crisis. Public health emergency measures issued in response to the global outbreak, such as port closures, the suspension of search-and-rescue operations and privatised pushbacks at maritime borders, have exposed fundamental weaknesses in the international protection regime. With Italy and Malta in profile, this article examines how the elevation of COVID-19 to a national security threat has occasioned a shift in the migration and security discourse, challenging the very existence of the non-refoulement principle’s non-derogable character. In support of conceiving the principle as absolute, the article reviews how the denial of protections under non-refoulement has contributed to the scale and gravity of the present health crisis, forcing mixed migrant arrivals to either stay in overcrowded camps or in protracted situations of distress at sea. The article thereby concludes that the framing of migration as a health security issue appears to only breed greater insecurity.","PeriodicalId":42994,"journal":{"name":"Cambridge International Law Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47001165","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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